Again: watch the dish-towels; see that they are not thrown on the floor or into a chair to be sat on by the first one who happens in, and perhaps the next minute used to wipe the fine china or cover over the bread fresh from the oven. Such things are constantly being done. Do our housekeepers know it? Of course they never do such things _themselves;_ but if they once gave it a moment’s sober thought, would they not, for their own comfort, endeavor to prevent its being done again? Who would wish to eat or drink from china wiped with towels so misused? Who would like to eat bread that had been wrapped up in a dish-towel, however clean? They should be washed and boiled every day after the dinner-dishes are out of the way, hung out to dry, and fresh, clean ones used at tea and till after dinner the next day, when the first set are brought in for the dishes, and the second washed, boiled, and hung out,--thus securing clean towels for each day. But no matter how faithfully this rule may be carried out, _no_ dish-towel should ever be used for bread, no bread-cloth should be used to wipe meat, no meat-cloth used for fish. Each contracts a taste or smell belonging to its own peculiar work, and each should be marked and employed for its own appropriate use, and _no other_. XI. WASHING FLANNELS. “CAN you tell me what has been done to my blankets? Not a year in use, and look at them! Fortunately I put but two into the wash this week, and now I think I shall never dare to have another washed. My pretty, soft, white blankets absolutely ruined!” Not ruined, as far as use is concerned, but the beauty has departed, never to return. Did you overlook the washing of them yourself? “Most certainly not! I never did such a thing in my life. I told the laundress that I wanted her to be very particular, and she assured me that she was fully competent to the work. I have just been speaking to her about them, and she can’t tell what should make them look so badly, unless there was something wrong about the wool.” That is simply absurd. Did you question her as to her mode of washing them? “O, no. I should not have known if she had managed incorrectly, and to question her would only have exposed my own ignorance to a servant, and that I am very loth to do; but she said she rubbed them very faithfully, soaped them thoroughly, and boiled them in good, clean suds.” _Soaped and boiled blankets_, or woolen goods of any kind! No wonder they are brown and muddy, and as thick as a board! Blankets that are carefully managed will not require washing often; yours have been in use so short a time they certainly could not have needed it, unless they were accidentally soiled. “No, they looked very fresh and fair; but I had supposed blankets should be washed every fall and spring. I never asked why.”